NCP denies ALSCON’s alleged asset stripping by UC Rusal

ABUJA—The fact-finding committee of the National Council on Privatization, NCP, on Aluminum Smelting Company of Nigeria, ALSCON, has said that the allegation of asset stripping against UC Rusal, owners of the company, was untrue.

According to the committee, ALSCON’s machines and structures are intact.
Speaking after an assessment tour of the multi-million naira plant at Ikot-Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, chairman of the committee, Mr. Emmanuel Amadi, said the disposal of scraps, non-liquid assets, faulty and inactive equipment and their parts by UC Rusal did not amount to asset stripping.

Amadi, who led two other members of the NCP; Mohammed Abubakar and Benson Upah, on the visit, expressed displeasure over the closure of the plant.
He urged the management to quickly develop and submit to the government a business plan with time lines to keep the plant functional.

He called for industrial harmony between the management of ALSCON, noting that its absence could jeopardize smooth operations of the company.
While appealing to the management of the company to reconsider recalling some of the sacked union officials, Amadi revealed that the committee would immediately present the report of its findings to the NCP to take the next action.

Managing Director of UC Rusal, Dmitriy Zaviyalov, informed the committee members that the falling prices of aluminum metals in the global market and lack of gas supply to the company were hampering the operations of the plant.
He said between 2007 and 2012, Rusal invested N24.54 billion in the plant but noted that due to teething problems, it suspended production in March 2013.